KARACHI: Meher Afroz’s credentials as an artist are unmatched. She is Pakistan’s top-notch painter and printmaker whose creative prowess has been acknowledged both at national and international levels. She’s been creating art for more than half a century. Therefore, her first retrospective, curated by critic Niilofur Farrukh, that began in the last week of November at Alliance Francaise de Karachi and the Chawkandi Art Gallery was bound to garner attention of art lovers, art practitioners and art writers.

Afroz — who migrated to Pakistan from Lucknow, India, in the early 1970s after completing undergrad studies in fine arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Lucknow — combines two forms of expression, painting and poetry, to a profound effect. On surface, both seem to have little in common — one is visual and the other is textual. But that’s where her mastery lies. She has this uncanny ability to turn texts into visual wonders and images into textual treats.

The exhibition(s) is a must-watch for it showcases a wide range of the seasoned artist’s work [paintings, prints, videos and installations] covering decades of her creative life. The exhibits, displayed both at the French cultural centre and the Chawkandi gallery, have a charismatic appeal to them. Even if one has seen some of them before, the show presents them in a way that they appear to attract attention with renewed energy and a host of meaning-extracting possibilities. One such example is the artworks put up under the category ‘Sukoon Aur Saraab’ (peace and illusion). It touches upon the ‘duality in how society navigates spirituality in present time’.

The subject of spirituality in Afroz’s work is significant. It is suffused with it. Looking at the exhibits suggests to the viewer that the artist seeks, through her takhleeqi pursuits, what is beyond the physical space that the world identifies itself with, especially with reference to contemporary times. This means, spirituality and aesthetics effortlessly come together in a tactile space.

The exhibition concludes on Dec 17 and the keepsake catalogue designed by Sabiha Imani will be launched in the first week of December.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2025